Along The Fortune Trail Read Online Free PDF Page A

avoiding the ragged surface of the roof where the force of the explosion had done the most damage. The car swayed side to side under his feet as he maneuvered his way. He reached the end of the car and descended to the platform, then yanked hard several times on coupling ring before it broke loose. Bones took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, letting his muscles relax as the rear half of the train began to fall away, the separation growing greater with each second.
    Bones's brief respite halted instinctively. He turned and ascended the ladder with long, easy movements, then ran forward along the top of the car to its end and leapt over the chasm and into the coal car.
    Moments later, Bones looked down at the engineer's platform where Lonny stood with his hands resting on the throttle and his eyes searching the hillside for familiar landmarks.
    “How much farther?” Bones yelled down at Lonny. Lonny wheeled around, startled by the break in his concentration. But he was now more interested in getting his own questions answered.
    “Are we loose of ‘em?” Lonny shouted back.
    “Yeah, we're loose,” Bones yelled, “But I think Derrick fell over the side when that dynamite blew … and he's got a busted leg … bad.”
    “Well, what about them dudes in the vault car?” Lonny asked, as if he hadn't heard what Bones had just said about Derrick.
    “They're all breathin’ and long since clear of this train. I wrangled ‘em off with a stick a persuasion. Where's the engineer?” Bones asked, not sure if he wanted to hear because of all the blood he could see on the platform.
    “They all got off,” Lonny replied. After a brief pause of silence, Lonny continued, “I figure we got about two miles to go, so get on back and get that safe wired, you hear! We don't wanna be wastin’ time once we're stopped.”
    “Which one you wanna blow first?” Bones asked.
    Lonny froze, not sure if he'd heard Bones right or if Bones simply wasn't making sense. “There's more ‘n one?” Lonny blurted out in a disbelieving tone, his eyes large with anticipation as his mind processed the possibility of additional loot. Before Bones could answer, Lonny was already calculating, and fired the question at Bones loudly and directly, “How much dynamite we got?”
    “Nine sticks left. I only used one stick gettin’ them boys off. Good thing too, ‘cause if I'd thrown that bundle a four in there we'd a-derailed for sure.”
    Lonny let that go by, even though it had been his plan for Bones to throw a short-fused bundle of four sticks in and simply kill the guards. He knew they were out-gunned, so killing them seemed the least risky. “Hell,” Lonny said, “get movin’ and wire ‘em both.
    Bones disappeared and Lonny returned his attention to the landscape, knowing that it wouldn't be long before they were at the rendezvous point.
     

Chapter 8
     
    C ody Royals had rolled and smoked a dozen cigarettes over the several hours he had waited, most of which he spent sitting in the shade of a stand of cedars. It was getting on toward noon, and Cody was becoming impatient to hear the sound of the train coming. He'd told the horses all his best stories and conversed with them about all manner of things, pausing briefly after he'd ask the group a question about horse life, then continuing on as if one of them had filled him in. Tethered to different trees that naturally formed a sort of semi-circle to the tree Cody sat leaning against, the horses occasionally stamped and snorted, giving him the impression of an audience that stood mesmerized with all he had to say. But he had run out of conversation, and his tobacco pouch was beginning to dwindle, prompting Cody to think about rationing his smokes and turning his thoughts to how much longer he'd have to wait.
    Cody had met Lonny a month and a half earlier at the Red Beaver Saloon. The nineteen-year-old had recognized Lonny as a co-worker at the mine and offered to buy him a drink, which Lonny